Jim E. Mora
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Jim Mora | |
|---|---|
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| Date of birth | May 24, 1935 |
| Place of birth | Glendale, CA |
| Position(s) | Head Coach |
| College | Occidental College |
| Career Record | 125-106 (NFL regular season) |
| Coaching Stats | DatabaseFootball |
| Team(s) as a coach/administrator | |
| 1998-2001 1986-1996 1982 1983-1985 1978-1981 1975-1977 1974 1968-1973 1967 1964-1966 1961-1963 |
Indianapolis Colts (HC) New Orleans Saints (HC) Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars (HC) New England Patriots Seattle Seahawks University of Washington UCLA University of Colorado Stanford University Occidental College (HC) Occidental College |
James Earnest Mora, more commonly known as Jim Mora, (b. May 24, 1935 in Glendale, CA) is the former head coach of the USFL's Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars and the NFL's New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts. He played football at Occidental College where he was also a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. His son, Jim L. Mora, (a.k.a. Jim Mora, Jr) is the current head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.
As an NFL coach, Mora is best known for three things: turning two of the NFL's losingest franchises into perennial post-season contenders, his lack of success once he got his teams to the playoffs, and his often-impassioned post-game tirades and press conferences.
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[edit] Early career
Mora was a tight end at Occidental College in California, graduating in 1957. After playing three years of service football in the U.S. Marines, he became an assistant coach at his alma mater in 1960. He moved up to head coach of Occidental a few years later, leading the team for three seasons, from 1964 to 1966, compiling an 18-9 record.
Mora, who received a master's degree in education in 1967, left Occidental and served as an assistant coach at several larger universities until 1978, when he became defensive line coach for the NFL's Seattle Seahawks.
[edit] USFL
In 1983, the U.S. Football League came into existence, and Mora became head coach of the Philadelphia Stars (who moved to Baltimore in 1985). During his tenure, the team compiled a 48-13-1 record while winning two USFL championships. Mora was named Coach of the Year in 1984. After the USFL folded in 1985, Mora took over as head coach of the NFL's New Orleans Saints.
[edit] New Orleans Saints
After a 7-9 record his first season, Mora led the Saints to a 12-3 record in 1987 (the team's first season over .500, and their best record to this day) and their first playoff appearance ever. In week 6 of the 1987 season, the Saints lost a 24-22 heartbreaker to the 49ers after missing a last-second field goal; after the game, Mora launched his infamous "Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda" speech. In his postgame press conference, Mora said "The Saints ain't good enough. We're close, and close don't mean (expletive). I'm tired of coming close....I'm (mad) right now. You bet your (expletive) I am. I'm sick of coulda, woulda, shoulda, coming close, if only." The Saints responded by winning their last 9 games.
The 12-3 record was the second-best in the NFL that year. Unfortunately, the San Francisco 49ers had the best record (13-2) and played in the same division. Therefore, the Saints were a wild-card team (interestingly, since 1987 was a strike-shortened season with replacement games, it should be noted that the Saints and 49ers had identical 10-2 records in regular season non-replacement games). The Saints would lose their first playoff game 44-10 to the Minnesota Vikings. Mora, however, received the NFL Coach of the Year Award.
Mora's Saints also had winning records in 1988 and 1989, but missed the playoffs. However, his teams made the playoffs three more times, in 1990, 1991, and 1992, losing in the first round each time.
After two 7-9 seasons in 1994 and 1995, Mora appeared increasingly frustrated with the situation in New Orleans. After the Saints were beaten 19-7 at the Carolina Panthers, which put them at 2-6 midway through the 1996 season, Mora walked out of the post-game press conference in disgust after a profanity-laced tirade, which became famous on sports highlight reels for years to follow, because of Mora's use of the phrase "Diddley Poo". On the Saints' performance, Mora said the following:
"The second half, we just got our ass totally kicked! We couldn’t do diddley poo offensively! We couldn’t make a first down. We couldn’t run the ball. We didn’t try to run the ball! We couldn’t complete a pass. We sucked! The second half, we sucked! We couldn't stop the run. Everytime they got the ball, they went down, and got points! We got our ass totally kicked in the second half. That's what it boiled down to. It was a horseshit performance in the second half! Horseshit! I’m totally embarrassed. I’m totally ashamed. Coaching did a horrible job! The players did a horrible job! We got our ass kicked in that second half! It sucked. It stunk."
Afterward, Mora unexpectedly resigned his position as head coach, and was replaced by interim coach Rick Venturi. The Saints would finish the season at 3-13, their worst season since going 1-15 in 1980. Venturi was replaced by veteran Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka.
[edit] Indianapolis Colts
In 1998, Jim Mora replaced Lindy Infante as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. The team struggled to a 3-13 mark in his first year, with a rookie Peyton Manning learning the ropes at quarterback, but had an amazing turnaround to 13-3 in 1999, only to lose the team's first playoff game in the AFC Divisional Playoffs (the team received a first-round bye to advance to the Divisional Playoffs). The loss to the Tennessee Titans dropped his all-time postseason record to 0-5.
A wild-card-round playoff loss to the Miami Dolphins came in 2000, dropping his postseason record to 0-6. Ironically for Mora, just hours after losing the sixth and final playoff game of his career, the New Orleans Saints won their first playoff game ever, their first playoff game since Mora's controversial departure.
In 2001, after dropping to 4-6, Mora, in response to a reporter's question at a press conference, said, "Playoffs?! Don't talk about playoffs! You kidding me?! Playoffs?! I just hope we can win another game!"
Indianapolis only won two more games that year. Some sources believed that Mora could have saved his job if he fired one (or more) of his co-ordinators, but he refused to do so. Mora was fired after the season and replaced by Tony Dungy.
[edit] Coaching philosophy
Mora favored a conservative approach to the game, relying on a strong running game and solid defensive play. Perhaps more than any other teams, the Saints teams of the late 1980s embodied his coaching style. Those teams were led by the "Dome Patrol" linebacking corps. This unit consisting of Rickey Jackson, Sam Mills, Vaughan Johnson, and Pat Swilling became known as one of the best four-man linebacking corps in NFL history. Those same Saints teams also had a strong running game, mostly led by Rueben Mayes and Dalton Hilliard. Despite his solid regular season record (125-106), Mora's biggest criticism has been his NFL teams' inability to win a playoff game in his six appearances.
[edit] Life after coaching
Mora is currently a sports radio commentator for Fox Sports's GameTime Saturday and GameTime Sunday with Dan Moriarty. He is also a sports analyst on the NFL Network, primarily on the show Point After.
[edit] Trivia
Mora is an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.
| New Orleans Saints Head Coaches |
|---|
| Fears • Roberts • North • Hefferle • Stram • D. Nolan • Stanfel • B. Phillips • W. Phillips • Mora Sr. • Venturi • Ditka • Haslett • Payton |
| Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts Head Coaches |
|---|
| Molesworth • Ewbank • Shula • McCafferty • Sandusky • Schnellenberger • Thomas • Marchibroda • McCormack • Kush • Dowhower • Meyer • Venturi • Marchibroda • Infante • Mora Sr. • Dungy |
